NJDEP - NJGS - First Annual Report of the Geological Survey of the ...

715currenoc of minerals ; and the experiments which I have witnessedof the use of the hazel witch, for the purpose of locatingwells where the water runs nearest to the surface, suggestthe propriety of making some remarks by way of caution tothose who believe in the efficacy of such means.'In my travels through the State_ hardly a day passes onwhich such applications are not made to me, together with the• recital of wonderful discoveries which have been made throughsuch instrumentalities. It is not indeed wonderful, that thereis so mush credulity among the great masses of the people, forthey have but little knowledge of the properties of minerals, orof the elementary principles of natural science. It seems tothem as reasonable to believe that the presence of gold, silver.or copper may be indicated by some such instrumentality, asthat a vein of magnetic iron ore may be discovered by meansof the magnetic needle. In order that I may give a cleareridea of the manner in which many people of this State havebeen duped, I will briefly mention a few cases that have eomzunder my own observation.Two years ago, a very worth_ and respectable man calledupon me, stating that he supposed I had a mineral rod thatwould discover a vein of copper, its depth from the surface, itswidth, and the quality of the ore_ and that he would like toborrow it re/" the purpose of finding a vein of copper in MorrisCounty, which his grandfather had discovered some sixty yearsago, and some of the ore from which he had smelted in'ablacksmith's forge in the vicinity. He stated that his grandfatherhad moved to Missouri when his father was a boy_ andhad often told his son of this copper vein, giving to him be- 'fore his death a map of the property, upon which was indicat:ed the precise spot where the opening had been made into it.He felt so confident that by means of this map he could go directlyto the concealed treasure, that he endeavored to purchasethe property at a very high price. On arriving at thepremises in quastion_ he was unable to find the opening intothe vein, on account of the changes which cultivation hadwrought upon the fields He immediately applied to a manINEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY